Schools Wrong to Ignore Religion’s Role, Bennett Says

WASHINGTON — Education Secretary William Bennett said today it is “wrongheaded and silly” for public schools to ignore the role of religion in American society and could lead to students becoming indifferent to the concepts of religious freedom on which the country was founded.

Bennett, addressing a meeting of the American Jewish Committee, focused on how schools are teaching the elements of “American common culture,” which he said is composed of the democratic ethic, the Judeo-Christian ethic and the work ethic.

“There is a confusion among some teachers and some principals that because the schools should not be used to encourage people to be members of one religious faith or another, that therefore the whole question of religion in our society is out of bounds,” he said. “This is wrongheaded and silly.”